#master matoya

[windup-nuriha]

world's tiniest shtola for fanfest...

[underarchon]

Honeyed yellow Elpis for intellect, perception, and warmth.

[driftward]

[cjrasmussen]

Master Matoya (2023) will be featured at TheYetee.com!

[nhaneh]

"Master Matoya never allowed me to wear her hat..."

(special thanks to @wildstar25 for inspiring the initial idea)

[autumnslance]

I've been hunting around for the answer to this question, and got pointed to you by a couple of friends, so I hope this doesn't sound too weird, but I've been trying to figure out how Y'shtola shows affection (particularly for the WoL) as truthfully up until ShB, I... uh... thought she didn't like the WoL at all or as a coworker at best? So, I'm trying to figure out what cues I've missed, and playing through again hasn't helped much... again, sry to bother!

Y'shtola's tough to read, so I totally get where you're coming from.

And as I got rather long (No surprise! It's me!), below a cut it all goes.

I have to note that many in fandom see the adult Scions and twins in earlier parts of the game as not caring about the Warrior of Light due to the initial surface level interactions and hard to read behaviors that were 1) hastily written (I feel ARR texts needed another few editing passes and VA takes they had no time for) and 2) are meant to be open to interpretation.

If one is reading the canon text with an open mind to seeing how characters grow and change (not to mention the shift in writing style as a new lead took over from Stormblood on) it’s harder to say after ShB and EW especially that the Scions don’t care, when community and love (in any and all forms) is a major point of this story of hope and how the day is saved multiple times due these friendships.

Not to mention how often through ARR, HW, and StB the adult Scions are often sidelined or sent off on other missions by the narrative to deny the WoL their aid while also explaining why they can’t help in combat situations against non-primals before we had the Duty Support system. Y’shtola vanishes post-Titan until after Garuda, after the Banquet is gone for much of HW MSQ until late 3.0, is nearly killed by Zenos in early 4.0 so out of action, and then is among the first Scions to fall to the Exarch's Call and is the last of the core group we pick up at 5.0’s midpoint.

Despite how often she and some of the others are gone, or the unevenness of some of the writing over time, I wouldn’t say she or any of the Scions dislike the WoL ever, nor actually do treat WoL as a servant or as a weapon of destruction; in fact, that attitude is specifically given to Alphinaud, and to some degree Alisaie, as part of their coming of age stories in ARR/Coils and HW as they transition from spoiled noble brats to conscientious young adventurers.

Also, clicking on everyone before, after, and in between quest steps comes in handy; it’s a habit to get into early in this game and especially in replays, as a LOT of characterization, background, and lore moments come from those optional dialogues that are easy to miss. There are a lot of great moments with all the doomed Scions in the Waking Sands, for instance, that are easily skipped if you ignore the common room and just rush in and out of the Solar for missions. It adds to play time, but it can be highly worth it to get extra on each character (in ShB it’s necessary with Emet-Selch and all the lore he offers).

But to get at Y’shtola and how she shows affection for everyone—not just WoL but in general—we’re actually going to have to start with our grouchy cave witch: Master Matoya.

Y’shtola’s amazing magical talent was realized early, and as such she was given directly to Matoya to raise as an apprentice when Y’shtola was only seven years old. In 6.1 quests, when accompanied by Y’shtola around Sharlayan, she specifically notes neither she nor Thancred ever attended the Studium as youths, as they were under the care of masters of their respective fields. Matoya is also credited, according to Alisaie on her first meeting the elderly archon, that Matoya is the one who’s said to have “tamed” Y’shtola.

So let’s look at Matoya. If you visit her cave after 6.0 to find Y’shtola hanging around, Matoya says:

“Like old Louisoix, you lot set out to save the world. Like him, you believed your cause with all your heart. And like him, you succeeded. The spineless wretches of the Forum could stand to take a cue from your example. Now, as Shtola would tell you, I tend to be sparing with my praise. But for what you’ve accomplished, you have my respect and admiration.”

And in all of our interactions with Matoya, that “sparing praise” is true; she’s caustic and grumpy and acts as if she is imposed upon every time we visit. However, if she really didn’t want anyone in her cave, well, we couldn’t get there. She’d change the magic lock. Throw us out. Overwhelm us with brooms and poroggos.

Instead she lets Alphinaud come and go freely to study throughout Heavensward’s patches as he seeks a way to help Estinien, keeping an eye on him, but letting him figure things out on his own as she lets him have run of her library and resources. She aids during the Alexander questline (though is never seen). Time and again, through MSQ and sidequests, Matoya is there for sharp, clearcut, logical advice and magical knowledge and resources. Even in Stormblood’s Namazu Tribe quests, you at one point take your fishy buddy to Matoya for information. Her response to the WoL is one of my favorites:

“Had anyone else shown up on my doorstep with a Namazu in tow, I would’ve had my poroggos deal with them. I’m still not quite sure what you’re about, but if it gets you to stop fighting every other god or dragon for a spell, it can’t be all that bad.”

Coming from Matoya, that is close to a declaration of care for the WoL’s well-being as we’re likely ever going to get.

Especially when you consider the sidequest available from one of her poroggos. It starts as an aether current quest inside the cave, but the chain continues until we discover a hidden broom under a ruined bridge, a broom in which Matoya has locked away all of her most precious memories and feelings for Y’shtola. Matoya tasks the poroggo that when she inevitably dies, his final act of service shall be to lay her body to rest alongside her hidden broom.

This is the woman who raised Y’shtola from the age of seven.

I said a lot already in my Ultima Thule post about the similarities and differences in Matoya and Y’shtola; where one is a misanthropic hermit, the other goes out into the world to help people and protect the star from dangers, even as she seeks knowledge of life’s mysteries. It’s a rather important difference, though the influence of Matoya’s caustic upbringing is writ in Y’shtola’s every ilm.

The first meeting in the Limsa Lominsa introductions, Y’shtola is labeled as “Cultured Conjurer.” In her early interactions with the WoL, and other NPCs such as the young pirate who gets in trouble, she acts as one would expect an adventuring healer to; friendly concern and relief when one is uninjured, making sure folks know Sevrin and the WoL are OK. She is certainly interested in WoL’s abilities, both combat and aetheric, but even in these early interactions she’s outwardly pleasant. If anything, she’s less brusque and sharp-tongued with strangers and new acquaintances.

Some of her easy irritation is seen in the infamous Feast preparations on the way to Titan; Y’shtola is irate at what the Company is putting the WoL through to test them and all the fetch quests they impose. She praises WoL for their patience and stoicism and humoring the Company, realizing only a bit later the WoL isn’t familiar enough with these heroes to understand why they did all this.

But Y’shtola is not effusive in her praise and compliments; though freer with them than her Master, she is still reserved and understated. Her wit is very dry commentary. She is not afraid to be stern when needed, but that would again be due to the influence of her upbringing; it’s easier to be forthright and caustic than it is to shower affection. But Y’shtola obviously tries to do the latter more often than her teacher.

The most effusive praise I can think of is in Heavensward, as the Excelsior prepares to leave for Azys Lla, when she says the WoL is “the beacon of hope towards which all men drawn” after all the WoL has accomplished so far in Ishgard and Dravania (and even in that verbal spar with Estinien, she tries to warn him of the Eye, and as you escape the Flagship upon Midgardsormr, Y’shtola is the one to ask “Where is Estinien?”).

This usually reserved praise remains true through much of the MSQ; again, she seems to allow her snarkier side and dry wit to come out around the Scions, because among her closest comrades, she is understood to be straightforward but still caring. She challenges people to do and be better (such as her argument with Merlwyb that Yugiri spies on in the ARR patches), and she challenges her Scion family most of all. In ShB there are her snappy comments at Thancred about his ward, but after, in speaking to her she is certain of his heart and willpower; the man she knows is a good one, who needs to confront his feelings and is refusing to while also not talking to his friends about his struggles. Y’shtola was trying to help in her own way—effectiveness and timing aside—and it is reminiscent of how her own Master would have done it; the comparisons to Matoya are strengthened not just by Y’shtola borrowing the name under the Floodlight.

EDIT: Speaking of Rak’tika, some other friends noted: If Y'shtola didn't already care, her first meeting with WoL in Rak'tika wouldn't have been so horrified when she was told it was WoL and not a sin eater she was seeing. She's notably upset, and then works to solve the issue, demanding answers of Urianger (who stonewalls), and then does in fact tell WoL her concerns, once Plot has been dealt with; people forget that scene as it’s not in the Unending Journey.

It does take Y’shtola time to show her vulnerabilities to the WoL, to entrust them with some secrets or take them into confidence. But that all comes rather late, for her to loosen up, to joke more, to be openly vulnerable, after everything the Scions have been through together.

It also does not help that Y’shtola’s more reserved interactions can be read as bids for reciprocation; if one were to meet her at the same level of energy, friendly coworkers it is. If one shows more friendly interest, her own level of interaction would also change—but that works in games with interactive dialogue paths that an on-rails MMO like FFXIV can’t provide as easily as a single player like Mass Effect or Dragon Age, where interactions with party members change their reception of the PC character, even to the point of OCNPC romance.

It all depends on how one reads it and feels about these characters. What clicks and what doesn’t. And for many, Y’shtola is harder to click with than others due to her reservation and sharp wit.

So if in ARR, HW, and StB she reads as a cordial coworker, that’s a valid reading; she’s as polite and friendly and concerned as one would expect a healer to be. She’s also dry, prone to understatement, and not afraid to be sharp-tongued when called for. She praises, but reservedly, as that’s her upbringing.

She doesn’t have Thancred’s snarky charm, or G’raha’s enthusiasm, nor the interplay of Papalymo and Yda. Each of the Scions are given very broad personality archetypes meant to be interpreted openly. One can even read Thancred as not caring about WoL as more than a coworker at first despite his effusive praise and honeyed words, as so much of it is a front he puts up, and his actual affection for WoL as a friend also arguably shows later (or, if going back to “bids for interaction”, it’s easier to exchange favorable energy with Thancred, but I don’t think that he’s actually much more open and able to reciprocate than Y’shtola, given his emotional stunting under the charm that takes him until ShB to work out, hence my own wolnpc ship with him taking so much time to sort).

I did present this question to my FC for some input, as Y’shtola IS a tough cookie to crack, and unlike some Ancient scientists I could name, I am willing to ask for outside ideas and perspectives to help me examine my own as I draft. One thing noted by certain multi-cultural friends is the cultural context one can read Y’shtola in; in an American context, she does seem very reserved and professional early on; polite, but very much how one would see a friendly coworker. In a British context, one friend considers her rather “chummy” in her pleasant politeness and dry, understated humor when interacting with her throughout MSQ.

For those of us who read the Scions as Found Family, we see Y’shtola as the poised older sister of the group, the supposedly responsible adult in the room who is really just as prone to shenanigans as the rest, in the right circumstance. 

And there are many who make the Mom jokes about her; some because they find her desirable and she is actually among the older Scions (despite her claims), but also because she does, as a healer first, have that Mom Friend demeanor, though it is more evident in ShB when she can joke back at the WoL’s silly responses to her concerns.

Anyway. Y’shtola isn’t a social showoff; with magic, sure, but in personal interaction, she holds quite a bit of herself back for awhile, and her ingrained responses due to her upbringing are to be reserved with affection and praise, while quick with wit and straightforward in her speech, not pulling punches. She will be cordial with acquaintances and new people, and shows the concern for others one expects of a healer, but she’s not going to gush the way others might.

This is a lot of words. I like Y’shtola, and get her lowkey approach and humor, so always considered her friendly, but was glad to see her caring clarified in ShB and EW, alongside the other Scions. But if her and other Scion friendships with WoL don’t quite gel for others until arriving on the First, that’s perfectly understandable.

[sarenhale]

Some dumb ass sketches derived from twitter pols... 

Matoya ordering nuggets and Thancred calling his normal room a ‘man cave’

[brineffxiv]

Cid finds the password. It's "freedom". Ominous.

Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope

Owen here confirms most of what we've already suspected about tempering - how it stagnates the aether of the soul and taints it towards a particular element.

Have we ever seen this? Apart from sin eaters and voidsent, which are different, I can't think of an example of the tempered physically changing. Perhaps some of the thralls of the Warring Triad, like in this example, but not any of our "classic" primals, for lack of a better term.

Hey, I remember that guy. He's the guy with the extravagant hat in the Crystal Tower raid.

Memory transference might be the key to restoring the tempered, but we infamously couldn't figure that out on the First. Thankfully, the Source has ancient Allagan computers! With a little help from Cid and the Ironworks, we should be able to run simulations of the magic to crack this problem.

I'm off to Ishgard to secure a supply of ceruleum, and who should I run into but Aymeric! It is lovely to see him, but more importantly, he pledges his full support for finding a cure for tempering, and offers me all the ceruleum an airship can haul!

And here I thought building my own PC was impressive.

Hey, Nero! Long time no see! (If you don't count me kicking your ass daily in the Praetorium)

Nero's not in this for a tempering cure, he's interested in his alternate timeline's self's having conquered the mysteries of time and space. Should we tell him that he and Cid apparently carried out their love/hate relationship for their entire lives? Because they did. lol

Group /doze time.

Just as the machine finds the solution it begins melting down! Thankfully, G'raha manages to read and comprehend the spell before it blinks out of existence. Forever. Because we have thoroughly destroyed this machine and it will never run again.

Now for the moment of truth. Time to see if our work will have tangible effects.

First we have to imbue Angelo with the memory macigk, so Y'shtola and Alphinaud channel their aether into G'raha.

Who in turn enhances Angelo.

G'raha and Alisaie then take Ga Bu to a quiet room so Alisaie can focus while she performs the spell.

And then the little guy is healed!

It was an exhausting process for everyone involved, but it worked! We have a cure for tempering.

Now to work on making sure the results are repeatable.

Off to see Master Matoya, and hopefully build an army of porxies.

[7marichan7]

Master Matoya

MY COMMISSIONS INFO

https://ko-fi.com/7marichan7

https://www.etsy.com/es/shop/7marichan7

[xiakha]

FFXIVWrite2023 Prompt #4 - Off the Hook

Master Matoya looked at Y'shtola calmly, "Now, you're not in trouble."

Which told Y'shtola exactly how in trouble she was.

Preparations were being made for the foray into the Antitower. The recent teleporting around had left Xiao quite peckish, and Thancred was clearly worse for wear after all of that travel by foot, so Matoya insisted that a hearty meal and a night's rest was the least she could offer before the party ventured into the misbegotten abandonment of a Sharlayan installation. Neither Xiao nor Thancred were too keen to share a repast of fossilized Archon Loaf and various stewed mushrooms, so they went fishing and hunting respectively. Alphinaud declared that he would gather firewood, but of course he did, which left Y'shtola and Krile to help Matoya over the cauldron.

Matoya had send Krile off to gather a few herbs and spices from the garden to have this time alone with the closest thing she had to a daughter. And Y'shtola was well aware that that was what was going on and began to chop and strain the mushrooms she had on hand as quickly as she could.

"And where would you be rushing off to? No matter how quick your hands, the knife is always quicker, and I would prefer my mushrooms without blood tonight."

Y'shtola smiled in the way that made the twitch in her brow evident, "With all due respect, Krile may not know exactly which herbs are located where, and what they may look like. I would aid her in harvesting."

"I may be old, but I'm not yet senile. That was entirely the point. If I didn't know better, I would say you trying to avoid talking with me."

Y'shtola wisely kept her mouth shut.

"Seventeen years I hardly hear a peep from you, save what that old coot sent in his letters, and now over the course of a mild winter, you visit thrice?"

Y'shtola shrugged a bit too helplessly, "Forgive me, you were so eager to get me out of your hair when I announced I would be evacuating the colony with my fellows that I figured you would rather I stay away. In truth, had Scion business not behooved our encroachment upon your cave, I would have been the first to suggest alternatives."

Matoya closed her eyes and shook her head, "Ah, the mundane cruelties of the young."

"Well, you have me now, what about my being perturbs you? Beyond my now sightless eyes, of course."

"Are you betrothed?"

To this Y'shtola very nearly lost a finger, "Excuse me?"

"Don't be daft. I have half as sensitive a nose as yours and even I can smell her scent all over you. And before you say it's hardly my business, would you deprive your old mentor a seat at your wedding?"

"I would not, you would be amongst the first to know if I were to be wed. As I expect I would be among the first if you were to be wed."

Matoya scoffed, "In all my years, I never had eyes for any other. No one was worth the time or effort! The same could not be said about you, little miss. Hormones bursting from your upturned ears and tail the way you pursued and were pursued." She paused at Y'shtola's shocked expression, "Did you think I didn't notice when you attempted to sneak your suitors past my wards into your room?"

Color crept into Y'shtola's cheeks, "I had studied for weeks to bypass them without notice, and you never said anything at the time!"

"Oh I played dumb, 'twas better than to acknowledge the yowling that came from your room at odd hours of the night."

"There was no yowling!"

"Oh it was never from you. You knew better. But your suitors were never so subtle."

"I rarely bedded or dated other Miqo'te."

"...I was under the impression it was not you at least." Matoya gave Y'shtola a devilish look, "Did you know Louisoix once wrote to me desperately looking for a delicate way to address your indiscretions? He wanted to make sure you wouldn't be overly distracted while you were on mission in Eorzea!"

The knife clattered onto the chopping block, "I had but two or three relationships after we left the colony, all of which were casual, thankyoukindly. I was too busy studying and embarking on Circle of Knowing business to indulge in anything more."

"Aye, but think on Louisoix, he had settled down with his first and only beloved after a long period of being suitors, and he watched his eldest son do the same hardly graduated from the Studium. With no daughters or sisters to observe going through those tiresome dances and rituals, he likely found your dalliances nigh scandalous."

Y'shtola rolled her whole head along with her eyes, "Enough teasing, no, Master Matoya, I am not betrothed nor am I planning to be." She resumed chopping as if the conversation was over.

"Does Xiao know that?"

"We've discussed it."

"And?"

"...We've discussed it."

"So she didn't taken it well."

"Well, I'll let her know that you approve of our match."

"Now don't go putting words in my mouth. I've not given any sort of approval, though you could do a lot worse than the savior of the realm," Matoya sighed, "I know I've instilled in you quite an independent streak, but my sort of self-reliance ill suits you. It always has, despite your many valiant attempts otherwise. And it's not a flaw or a fault to rely on others. I have no need of it, but there is no harm in wanting someone to warm your bed or share your hardships or spend your twilight years with taking care of each other."

Y'shtola stopped chopping, the fungi in front of her was much more mush than room at this point, "'Tis difficult to unset my ways after so long. And to what end? Would a relationship with the Warrior of Light last when she and I are both constantly hurtling ourselves into the path of danger and certain death?"

"Ah, so you fear a relationship with you would kill her faster than a summoned twenty-foot tall primal of swords and murder."

"It's not that---"

"A woman such as Xiao will only wait for so long. My real concern is if you will be fine once Xiao's moved on and is happy elsewhere."

A bitter taste rose from the back of Y'shtola's throat as she wondered how to broach the topic of Haurchefant.

But then the cave entrance opened. Krile returned with her herbs and spices, along with Xiao, a line of three plump fish behind her, and Alphinaud, firewood stacked past his eyes, in tow.

"We'll continue this conversation later," said Matoya, who walked away to inspect the gathered goods.

Y'shtola breathed out heavily as if she had been holding her breath this entire time. She pushed her minced mushrooms into the cauldron and made a mental note to do everything she could to avoid continuing the conversation.

[radigalde]

Familiars: Master Matoya Broom & Frog

[matoyaa]

[yzeltia]

Handed Down from Stone

Chapter 5: Etched in Amethyst Characters: Y'zel Tia, Y'shtola Rhul, Matoya Rating: T for Tia Notes: None

- Sharlayan, 1560 -

"Shtola, pleeeeeease!?"

Y'shtola let out a heavy sigh as her little cousin tugged at her tail. Yanking it away, she turned and folded back her ears. 

"No. Leave me be," she hissed.

Y'zel's eyes filled with tears as he was rejected again. Then came the little gasps for air, the threat of a full breakdown, the young Miqo'te not minding that they were in the library. Hopping off her ladder, Y'shtola took a knee, bringing herself to the boy's level to shush him before he could make a scene.

"Don't you start with the crocodile tears," she huffed, "You are plenty proficient in Arcana. Why are you insisting I show you thaumaturgy?"

"I want to make more friends! Like you!"

Y'shtola looked up to the ceiling for a moment and closed her eyes. "Of which friends are you referring?"

"The Nixies!"

"The Scholar save me...," the girl muttered as she shook her head. "Y'zel, you can already summon a carbuncle...and what you're asking is more in the realms of conjuration, though I'm sure it could be replicated with thaumaturgy...in theory at least. Were one able to create a familiar of fire or ice, they'd be extremely dangerous due to their destructive nature," she explained before standing and putting her hands on her hips and looking down at him, "I'm far too busy with my own studies and the extra work Master Matoya gives me to indulge you. We're in a library are we not? Why do you need me when there is a wealth of unending knowledge at your every turn?"

Y'zel looked around, sniffling still before rubbing his eyes.

"Besides, I don't believe you're cut out for the discipline it takes to master the dark arts yet. Master Matoya frequently states you're all ice and no fire."

Y'zel blinked, unsure of what she meant, and suspected she might not know herself. Wiping his face on his shirt, he gave a little nod then set off to the Catalog room, leaving Y'shtola to her own devices.

No one questioned the boy's presence as he started pulling at drawers and looking through the little note cards, being the son of Y'lem (or more likely the nephew of Y'rhul) granting him a bit of freedom and trust. Perhaps a bit too much of both, as the boy ignoring his cousin’s warnings, made haste to find his choice tomes on thaumaturgy and conjury.  Retrieving his books, he checked them out then waddled home with his arms full, free to read through as much as he’d like with his father away on Forum business.

The boy poured over his books, spending the rest of his afternoon determined to prove Y’shtola wrong. He could make friends just like she could! How hard could it really be? Needing a shape, he pulled out his junior encyclopedia and began to flip pages to find pictures of animals that he might use then ran to his father’s study to grab components for the spell. Standing, he pulled out a little wand then straightened his back before making little circles with his arm.

From mountain high and glacier flow, of glittering winds and hills of snow, of lone tundra bring a friend to say hello,” he called out before raising his wand up high.

The room chilled as he finished casting, aether surrounding the materials before erupting into a brilliant pillar of ice then shattering into the shape of a tiger. “Kitty,” he beamed before grabbing the creature by the cheeks, hands sticking to the ice.

            Whimpering, he pulled his hands away, finding the summoned creature more sculpture than familiar. Not one to give up on the first try, he tried again, choosing a different animal now, a giraffe. Once more, he circled his armor then cast his spell and erected the towering creature in the middle of his living room…lifeless and cold. The windows soon frosted over, the boy going through the encyclopedia, filling the room with his ice menagerie. Growing tired, he curled up under his tiger with a blanket, too cold and sleepy to keep going for now.

-Present Day, Dravanian Hinterlands –

“What! What do you want!? I don’t take visitors!”

Y’zel’s ears perked as Matoya swung open her door then threatened to slam it, stopping momentarily to give his woad skyraiding gear a once over.

“Master Matoya! I came here to learn from you. I’m Y’shtola Rhul’s cousin and the son of-“

“I know who you are. Y’lem’s boy. Stubborn and a blowhard nipping at his brother’s heels. A cold shrewd man that I thought only cared to better himself...I ate my words though. He was the only one of the Forum that had the balls to remain here after the Exodus…until he was forced to flee with you. The Scholar knows I’d have had to raise another Jaguar under my roof if he hadn’t absconded with you before I realized what happened” she sighed.

Y’zel blinked then fluttered his ears, “Then you’ll teach me?”

“…No.”

Y’zel’s eyes widened as she slammed her door on him. Defeated, he hung his head then sighed heavily as he sat down on the woman’s stoop, drooping his ears as he rested his chin in his palms, tail flopping hard in frustration. As he thought about what to do next, a poroggo hopped out a smaller door, a large ornate staff in his hand, similar to his cousin’s, if not a replica.

“Master says that if you’re going to cosplay, you should complete the look, ribbit,” it said before handing over the staff then hopping off.

 Y’zel flicked his ears back in annoyance then stood up, examining the gift then huffing before awaying back to his office at Gubal…thinking to try again later.

[decafdrawing]

[orime-stories]

Day 22 - Journey to the Past

Master Matoya was terrifying.

“And what do you have to be so frightened of, girl?” she groused as soon as looking at her. “Stand up straight and get your lip out from between your teeth. Thought you adventuring sorts were supposed to be bold as brass. Too big for your pilfered boots.”

Aurelle wilted further under the woman’s unimpressed gaze, as though the wizened witch towered over her when in reality the opposite was true.

“If you’re going to cry you can do that outside,” she finished, turning from her. “The flowerbeds will find more use for that sort of nonsense.”

“Master Matoya,” Y’shtola spoke, undaunted. “Might I remind you that this gentle soul is Eorzea’s Warrior of Light. T’would be foolish to court her ire.”

Matoya barked a laugh. “What ire?” Her eyes flashed back to Aurelle, knowing that she would shrink away from them. The woman always seemed to delight in tormenting her when she visited. “She won’t last long out there if she cannot even withstand an exchange of pleasantries with an old woman.”

“Pleasantries, is it?” Y’shtola quirked an eyebrow. “I had not known you to be acquainted with the concept.”

The pair bickered back and forth, each as stubborn as the other, while Aurelle hovered in the background trying to draw as little attention to herself as possible. It was hard to imagine that this dark cave with its piles of irreverently stacked tomes was where Y’shtola had spent her formative years. And more impossible still to imagine the competent and poised miqo’te as a child at all, seven years old and assigned this terror as her mentor. Stuck in here with her for a decade of brutal learning. Aurelle wasn’t sure she would have lasted five minutes.

But it was obvious for all to see that Y’shtola was made of sterner stuff.

For the Junelezen Challenge 2022

Previous Entries: Introduction / Calamity / A Realm Reborn / History Repeating / Eorzea Defended / Dreams of Ice / Warrior of Light / Heavensward / Floor the Horde / Gaol Break / Orthodox Mayhem / Five Minutes of Fate / Stormblood / Crimson Footprints / Solar Cycle / Lunar Cycle / More Heroes / Shadowbringers / Between Two Worlds / Paradise Found / Uncanny Valley

[nhaneh]

"Pray what is the matter, child? Would you not rather seek shelter with one of your parents?" "You've got a big hat, Nana. It keeps the rain away."